EAGER: Elastic Electronics for Sensing Gut Luminal and Serosal Biochemical Release

Michigan State University, East Lansing MI

Investigators

Abstract

Microbiota-gut-brain communication plays an important role in the progression of psychiatric disorders, such as anxiety, depression, and neurodevelopmental disorders. Gut serotonin, which accounts for 95% of the body's serotonin, serves as an important link between gut microbiota and the brain. However, knowledge of gut serotonin's function and impact on the enteric nervous system is limited due to the lack of proper bioelectronic tools. The gastrointestinal (GI) tract is a series of soft organs with inherent motility, joined in a long and twisting tube from the mouth to the anus. As a result, biochemical sensing in the GI tract has historically been challenging because conventional bioelectronic probes are rigid and fragile. This award aims to develop a new bioelectronic tool based on tissue-like soft materials that make both the mucosal and serosal sides of the intestinal epithelium accessible to neurochemical sensing, thus allowing us to study the biochemical effect on various physiological factors. The project is expected to create a powerful research tool that will provide novel insights into the dynamics of gut serotonin and lay the foundation for the development of transformative diagnosis and treatment for patients with psychiatric disorders through intervention in the GI tract. The research thrusts will be tightly coupled with comprehensive educational and outreach components, including Biodesign course and RET projects about soft electronics, to prepare future scientists and engineers from various backgrounds in the highly interdisciplinary research fields of bioelectronics. This project seeks to fill the critical technology gap of accessing the gut electrically by developing a soft and elastic graphene-based bioelectric sensor array that provides robust and intimate intestinal epithelium tissue interfacing with both the mucosa and serosa, thus enabling simultaneous and multiplexed biochemical sensing during continuous gut motion. The project includes three roles: (1) Systematic examination of the electrochemical performance of nitrogen-doped graphene electrode materials for sensitive and selective sensing of multiple neurotransmitters. (2) Development of a new microfabrication process for graphene microelectrode production to create a fully soft, graphene-based microelectrode array for biochemical sensing. (3) Evaluation of the feasibility of the elastic electronic sensor arrays to be interfaced with both the mucosal and serosal sides of the gut for multiplexed and multi-channel biochemical sensing in the actively moving gut of a rodent model. The proposed research will lead to a new tool for collecting critical datasets on motility-associated temporospatial fluctuation of gut biochemicals in the actively moving intestine of rodent animals. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.